BANCROI 


THE  ROCKIES 


University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


fifflM* 


DENVER 


"DENVER, COL. 
•I89E- 


£>PYRIGHT,  1892,  by 

S.  K.  HOOPER, 

General  Passenger  Agent  Denver  &  Rio  Grande  Railroad. 


Knight,  Leonard  &  Company, 

Printers, 
Chicago,  Illinois. 


Illustrations  from  Photographs  by 
W.  H.  JACKSON. 


Descriptive  Articles  by 
FITZ  MAC. 


In  brotherly  Conclave  assembled  at 

DENVER, 

Beneath  the  shadow  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  in  the  year  of  Christ  1892, 

THE  DENVER  &  Rio  GRANDE  RAILROAD 

Dedicates  this  Souvenir  Volume 
To  mark  its  profound  respect  for  the  fraternity,  which,  through  the  dark  centuries  of  the  past, 

Steadfastly  resisting  the  tyranny  of  creeds  and  conquerors, 

Has  linked. together  the  peoples  of  the  earth  in  brotherly  bonds  of 

FAITH,  HOPE  AND  CHARITY. 


COLORADO. 

BY  VIRGINIA  DONAGHE  MC  CLURG. 

"COLORED  LAND  !"  beneath  a  turquoise  sky,- 
Sun-kissed  from  dazzling  peaks  to  opal  plains,— 
What  pulses  throb  within  thy  silver  veins, 
What  forces  strove  in  thee  for  mastery ! 
The  Manitou  here  dwelt  ki  days  gone  by 
In  crystal  springs,  to  cleanse  all  mortal  stains ; 
Here  the  swart  Spaniard  strove  for  golden  gains ; 
Lone  hunters  saw  thy  virgin  purity. 
Now  plenty's  garners  gild  the  quiet  fields, 
And  marts  are  swayed  by  olive-sceptered  peace; 
To  mighty  multitudes  her  wealth  she  yields, 
As  shifting  seasons  pass  and  years  increase ; 
For  fair  "Columbia,"  bending  towards  the  west, 
Now  wears  this  crimson  rose  upon  her  breast. 


WELCOME. 

HEARTFELT  greetings,  O  Knights  Templar,  as  ye  come  a  noble  band, 
On  a  crusade  o'er  "the  desert,"  now  become  a  blossoming  land,— 
Where  snow  peaks  their  crest  uplifting,  like  the  domes  of  white  Mosques  stand. 

As  crusaders,  desert-faring,  saw  some  green  oasis  smile, 
Colorado  bids  you  welcome, — after  many  a  weary  mile,— 
Do  us  honor,  give  us  pleasure, — rest  with  us  a  little  while! 


THE  GARDEN  OF  THE  GODS. 

i  OBODY  ever  has  or  ever  will  come  to  Colorado  on  a  pleasure  trip  without  visiting 
the  world-renowned  GARDEN  OF  THE  GODS.  It  would  be  like  going  to  Rome  without 
visiting  the  ruins  of  the  Colosseum. 

The  Denver  &  Rio  Grande  was  the  first  line  to  open  the  way  for  the  traveling 
public  to  this  delightful  and  unique  resort.  A  day  of  fresh  and  enchanting  ex- 
periences awaits  every  one  who  visits  the  marvelous  scene  for  the  first  time.  It  is  as  if  a  new 
window  were  opened  in  the  soul  through  which  a  kaleidoscopic  vista,  grotesque,  enchanting 
and  benignant,  is  visioned  forth. 

When  Nature  was  a  young  and  artless  creature  this  seems  to  have  been  her  favorite 
play-ground,  and  all  the  notables  of  Olympus  may  be  supposed  to  have  gathered  here 
at  the  famous  and  stately  GATEWAY  OF  THE  GODS  to  watch  the  graceful  thing  disporting 
herself.  And  the  suggestion  is  irresistible  that  she  must  have  been  suddenly  frightened, 
leaving  all  her  gigantic  and  grotesque  toys  scattered  about  in  artless  and  delightful  confusion. 
Take  the  SCENIC  LINE  OF  THE  WORLD  from  Denver  any  morning  for  Manitou.  If  you  have 
but  a  day  to  spend  you  can  return  in  the  evening.  From  Manitou  the  GARDEN  is  but  a 
ten-minutes'  drive,  and  open  carriages,  which  make  a  specialty  of  the  business,  are  driven 
by  intelligent  guides. 


GATEWAY  TO  THE  GARDEN  OF  THE  GODS. 


THE  FOUNTAINE-QUI-BOUILLE. 

HIS  is  one  of  the  many  scenes  in  Colorado  where  the  beautiful  is  majestically  blended 
with  the  sublime. 

The  old  name,  bestowed  by  the  early  French  trappers  and  traders,  who  met  the 
Indians  at  this  point  annually  to  traffic  for  their  peltries,  still  clings  to  it,  although  it 
does  not  flow  tripping  from  the  English  tongue. 

Here,  in  the  sweltering  heat  of  mid-summer,  one  may  stand  cool  and  comfortable, 
shaded  by  the  clambering  vines  of  fragrant  clematis,  which  grows  in  wild  profusion,  and 
by  the  umbrageous  foliage  of  grand  old  cottonwoods  (the  alamo  of  the  Spaniards),  and 
gaze  through  summer  air  on  the  majestic  spectacle  of  far-off  mountain  pinnacles,  silent  and 
sphinx-like  in  their  changeless  cowls  of  snow. 

It  is  scenes  and  conditions  like  these  that  have  given  a  world-wide  fame  to  Manitou,  and  it, 
still  in  the  infancy  of  its  career,  is  one  of  the  most  fashionable  and  delightful  pleasure  and  health 
resorts  on  the  western  continent. 

In  winter  it  is  a  veritable  sun-trap,  protected  from  any  possibility  of  winds  by  the  moun- 
tain range,  which  forms  a  crescent  about  it,  and  its  summer  airs  are  tempered  to  delightful 
coolness  by  gravitating  down  from  regions  of  perpetual  snows. 

The  SCENIC  LINE  OF  THE  WORLD  was  the  first  to  open  this  charming  spot  to  the  world. 

8 


MARSHALL  PASS. 

O  one  should  venture  to  say  that  he  has  seen  the  Continent  of  North  America 
till  he  has  stood  at  the  very  ridge-pole  of  its  water  slopes — on  Marshall  Pass — 
and  watched  the  great  Chariot  of  the  Sun  come  up  out  of  the  glowing  Orient, 
speed  through  the  arc  of  day  and  descend  into  the  calm  and  somber  Pacific. 
The  grandeur  of  the  continent  then,  for  the  first  time,  fully  breaks  upon  his 
astonished  senses. 

A  day  so  given  to  the  silent  contemplation  of  the  resistless  forces  of  the  universe — a 
day  so  isolated  from  all  the  sordid  cares  and  all  the  vexatious  trivialities  in  which  the 
livens  of  men  are  entangled — a  day  so  consecrated  to  the  silent  sublimities  of  nature  must 
forever  enlarge  the  mind  that  has  enjoyed  it  and  enrich  the  memory  that  embraces  it. 

No  other  railroad  crosses  the  continental  divide  at  a  point  that  gives  the  passenger 
anything  comparable  to  the  limitless  view  obtained  from  Marshall  Pass.  Here  he  may 
veritably  stand  with  one  foot  in  water  that  flows  to  the  Pacific,  the  other  in  water  that 
flows  to  the  Atlantic,  with  a  scope  of  vision  east  and  west  limited  only  by  the  power 
of  the  eye,  and  count  to  the  north  and  south  of  him  a  thousand  mountain  peaks  that 
lift  their  icy  arms  into  the  blue  depths  of  the  sky  like  the  silvered  minarets  of  some 
celestial  city  miraged  from  above. 

Tourists  can  reach  Marshall  Pass  only  by  the  SCENIC  LINE  of  the  WORLD. 


MARSHALL  PASS. 


LAKE  SAN  CRISTOVAL. 

F  the  scenery  along  the  line  of  the  Denver  &  Rio  Grande  had  to  be  characterized  in  one 

word,  the  word  employed  would  have  to  be  sublimity. 

The  scenery,  however,  along  this  famous  route,  is  so  varied  that  the  whole  vocabulary 

of  descriptive  appellation  is  exhausted  before  the  half  has  been  surveyed. 

We  run  down  the  gamut  through  stupendous,  grand,  sublime,  magnificent  and  beautiful. 
But  at  Lago  San  Cristoval  (as  old  Spanish  explorers  called  it),  we  pause  for  a  word  that  meets 
the  full  requirements  of  the  case.  That  word  is  loveliness'!'  This  alluring  vision  of  water  is 
not  so  much  known  as  it  should  be,  even  among  our  own  people,  and  it  is  scarcely  known 
at  all  to  tourists  from  abroad,  because,  until  recently,  it  has  been  accessible  only  to  those 
rugged  enough  to  stand  the  hardship  of  a  long  day's  coaching  over  mountain  roads. 

Now,  however,  it  may  be  reached  over  the  Lake  City  branch  and  will  become  one  of  the 
standard  summer  attractions  which  the  Scenic  Line  of  the  World  offers  to  its  tourist  patrons. 

When  the  San  Juan  region  was  a  far-off  country,  the  weary  traveler  who  journeyed 
thence  over  the  old  Los  Pinos  trail,  would  draw  the  bridle  on  his  lagging  broncho,  leap  from 
the  saddle,  and  stand  enraptured,  gazing  upon  the  refreshing  loveliness  of  Lago  San  Cristoval 
that  lay  below  him  encircled  by  its  green  necklace  of  pines,  with  the  mountains  mirrored  in 
its  limpid  depths.  It  is  but  a  short  drive  from  Lake  City.  The  road  to  the  recently  discov- 
ered, but  now  famous,  Carson  Mining  Camp  passes  Lake  San  Cristoval. 

16 


LAKE  SAN  CRISTOVAL. 


EAGLE  RIVER  CANON. 

>EW  places  in  the  world  can  present  to  the  eye  of  the  tourist  a  more  varied  panorama 
of  magnificent  scenery  than  the  canon  of  the  Eagle  river,  which  is  traversed  throughout 
its  entire  length  by  the  broad-gauge  tracks  of  the  great  SCENIC  LINE  of  the  world. 

And  the  locality  is  not  more  attractive  to  the  tourist  than  to  the  sportsman.  The  Eagle 
river  abounds  in  trout  and  is  the  paradise  of  the  skillful  angler,  but  it  is  hardly  the  place  for 
a  tyro  with  the  rod.  It  needs  the  hand  of  a  master  to  cast  the  fly  over  these  waters,  but  they 
richly  reward  the  skill  of  the  strong  angler  with  an  instinct  for  the  sport.  It  is  a  typical 
."  mountain  stream,  of  strong  volume,  and  its  waters  are  cool  and  clear.  It  is  a  laughing, 
romping,  coquettish,  dignified,  serious  stream  —  laughing  over  the  pebbles  in  its  upper 
course,  romping  among  the  rocks  farther  down,  swirling  away  into  graceful  pools,  deep  and 
cool  when  it  reaches  the  canon,  then  striding  away  with  dignified  pace,  and  finally  bringing 
up  with  a  slow  and  serious  step  as  it  nears  its  junction  with  the  Grand. 

Passing  through  Eagle  river  canon  the  tourist  is  afforded  the  only  opportunity  for  viewing 
silver  mining  from  the  train.  Perched  high  up  on  the  cliffs  for  the  entire  length  of  the  canon 
can  be  seen  mines,  shaft  houses  and  mining  camps,  with  their  unique  tramways,  buckets, 
etc.,  for  lowering  the  ore  to  the  trains.  Some  of  the  famous  mines  of  Colorado  are  located 
in  this  canon. 

18 


EAGLE  RIVER  CANON. 


KING  SOLOMON'S  TEMPLE. 

IHE  Scenic  Line  of  the  World,  it  should  be  remembered,  consists  of  two  systems, 
a  broad-gauge  and  a  narrow-gauge  line.     These  occupy  the  same  road-bed  from 
Denver  to   Pueblo,  and  from   Pueblo   westward,  through  the  Grand  Canon   of  the 
Arkansas  to  Salida,  a  total  distance  of  about  220  miles.    Here  they  divide,  the  narrow- 
gauge  line  striking  directly  westward  over  the  famous  Marshall  Pass  to  Grand  Junction, 
while  the  broad-gauge,  running  northward  to  Leadville,  crosses  the  continental  divide 
by  Tennessee   Pass,  and,  following  down  the  picturesque   and   beautiful   canon  of 
Eagle  River  to  the  junction  of  the  latter  with  the  Grand,  it  pursues  that  noble  stream  directly 
westward  past  the  famous  Glenwood  Springs  to  a  union  with  the  narrow-gauge  system 
again  at  Grand  Junction. 

The  last  of  the  stupendous  canons  traversed  by  the  broad-gauge  system  going  westward 
is  that  of  the  Grand  River,  below  the  junction  of  the  Eagle  and  immediately  east  of  Glen- 
wood  Springs. 

Lacking  somewhat  in  the  overwhelming  sublimity  of  its  depths,  it  is,  nevertheless, 
accounted  by  many  the  most  beautiful  canon  in  Colorado.  Unlike  all  the  others,  it  cuts  its 
way,  most  of  the  distance,  through  the  stratified  formations,  and  this  gives  to  its  outline  a 
curiously  castellated  configuration,  such  as  is  shown  in  this  picture  of  KING  SOLOMON'S 
TEMPLE,  which  occurs  about  midway  of  its  length. 

20 


KING  SOLOMON'S  TEMPLE. 


GLENWOOD  SPRINGS. 

HIS  place  has  conditions  which  must  render  it  forever  unique  among  the  pleasure 
and  health  resorts  of  the  western  continent.  The  efficacy  of  its  hot  baths  in  relieving 
many  forms  of  chronic  disease  have  already  made  it  widely  known.  The  alterative 
effect  of  the  waters  on  nearly  all  morbid  physical  conditions  is  both  prompt  and 
lasting,  while  as  a  mere  idle  delight  the  great  artificial  swimming  pool,  covering 
an  acre  of  ground,  paved  on  the  bottom  and  graduated  in  depth  from  three  feet 
to  five  and  a  half,  is  a  source  of  never-ending  enjoyment  and  always  produces  the  most 
cheering  effect  upon  the  depressed  spirits  of  those  afflicted,  while  to  the  young  and  strong 
it  is  boundless  glee. 

A  striking  peculiarity  of  the  conditions  here  is,  that  owing  to  the  effect  on  the  skin 
of  the  medicinal  salts  which  the  natural  hot  water  contains,  these  open  air  baths  in  the  great 
swimming  pool  may  be,  and  actually  are,  taken  in  winter  as  well  as  in  summer,  with  the 
best  results,  even  by  delicate  persons.  The  invigorating  character  of  the  water  may  be 
judged  by  this  circumstance.  Of  course,  all  do  not  resort  to  the  swimming  pool.  There 
are  extensive  private  baths  of  the  most  luxurious  appointments.  The  great  central  bath- 
house, built  of  stone  and  floored  and  wainscotted  with  tiles,  is  the  finest  thing  of  its  kind  on 
the  continent.  Glenwood  is  about  fifteen  hours'  ride  from  Denver  on  the  great  SCENIC  LINE 
OF  THE  WORLD. 

22 


BATH   HOUSE  AND   POOL,    GLENWOOD  SPRINGS. 


A  MOUNTAIN  TRAIL  , 

O  the  sensitive  imagination  there  is  something  infinitely  pathetic,  as  well  as  much 
that  is  strikingly  picturesque,  in  the  conditions  that  surround  the  life  of  the  western 
miner.  And  the  more  one  sees  of  it  the  more  deeply  is  the  pathos  of  the  situ- 
ation impressed  upon  the  observing  mind. 

It  was  the  peculiarly  delicate  but  decided  way  in  which  Bret  Harte  perceived  and  por- 
trayed this  pathos,  so  elusive  to  the  coarser  mold,  that  gave  the  assurance  of  poetical  genius 
in  the  man  and  commended  his  early  tales  of  California  life  to  the  inmost  heart  of  the  world. 
As  stories  merely,  they  were  meagre  and  miserable  little  structures  ;  but  illuminated  by 
the  tender  genius  of  a  naive  and  matchless  poesy  they  disclosed  to  us  the  tear-stains  on 
the  cheek  of  the  bawd  under  the  paint  and  powder,  and  the  lonesome,  gentle,  yearning 
heart  of  the  old-time  miner  behind  the  blood-curdling  bravado  of  his  lips. 

It  is  in  the  great  San  Juan  region  of  South-western  Colorado  that  the  conditions  of 
mining  still  retain  most  strongly  the  picturesque  character  which  the  stories  of  Bret  Harte 
have  ambered  in  the  sentiment  of  the  world.  This  picture  of  a  lonely  mountain  trail, 
traversed  by  a  "prospector"  and  his  solitary  "pack  animal"  is  pathetically  characteristic  of 
scenes  that  the  tourist  may  witness  any  day  in  the  mountains  of  "the  San  Juan  country." 

The  scene  illustrated  is  familiar  and  marvelous — old  Uncompahgre  trail  connecting  Red 
Mountain  with  Ouray. 

24 


CASTLE  GATE. 

F  the  thousands  who  cross  the  Rocky  Mountains  every  month  by  the  Denver  &  Rio 
Grande  Route,  few  will  ever  forget  the  impressions  of  majestic  grandeur  conveyed  to 
the  eye  by  the  buttressed  headlands  of  CASTLE  GATE.  They  ravish  the  vision  with  a 
mellowed  and  oriental  luxuriance  of  color.  They  touch  the  imagination  with  the 
magic  of  things  unseen,  and,  as  the  stately  train  sweeps  down  the  curved  avenue 
of  its  course  toward  the  narrow  portal  like  a  creature  conscious  of  its  own  grace,  one  feels 
that  the  enchanting  landscapes  of  a  king's  demesne  are  about  to  burst  upon  his  view.  But 
only  Nature's  broad,  bald,  arid  acres  greet  the  eye  (this  if  coming  eastward),  and,  strange  to 
say,  one  does  not  find  the  disenchantment  without  a  pleasure  peculiar  to  itself — a  surprise 
that  is  not  a  disappointment.  The  rushing,  racing,  protesting  river  (a  river  only  by  the 
chivalrous  courtesy  of  western  speech),  is  still  there.  It  is  calling  after  you  with  a  thousand 
angry  protestations  against  the  rocks  that  impede  its  foaming  course  and  trip  its  hurrying 
footsteps.  Going  westward  there  is  no  sudden  disenchantment.  Expectation  is  sustained. 

Passing  the  towering  portals  of  the  gate  you  enter  a  winding  canon  of  moderate  depth, 
broken  here  and  there,  giving  side  vistas  through  timbered  reaches,  which  are  the  beloved 
haunts  of  deer  and  antelope,  and  in  a  few  hours  you  are  sweeping  up  to  the  great  city  by  the 
tideless  sea. 

26 


CASTLE  GATE. 


THE  TEMPLE  AND  TABERNACLE. 

CCUPYING  an  entire  block  in  what  was  the  original  center  of  the  present  City  of 
Salt  Lake,  surrounded  on  four  sides  by  a  ten-foot  stone  wall,  is  the  'famous  Mormon 
Tabernacle,  the  more  pretentious,  but  less  noted,  Temple,  and  the  Assembly  Hall. 
Of  these  three  buildings,  more  attention  will  naturally  be  given  to  the  Tabernacle, 
which  is  to  Salt  Lake  City  what  the  Colosseum  was  to  Rome.  Covered  by  an  immense 
shingled  roof  in  the  shape  of  half  an  egg,  which  comes,  seemingly,  very  close  to  the  ground,  it 
presents  an  appearance  unequaled  by  any  structure  in  the  world.  The  interior  is  severely  plain, 
but  liberal  use  of  evergreens  in  the  immense  dome  gives  it  a  cheerful  aspect  and  relieves  the 
great  expanse  of  white  walls.  The  acoustic  properties  of  this  unique  building  are  some- 
thing wonderful,  and  the  beautiful  music  of  an  exceedingly  large  pipe  organ,  together  with 
the  large  choir,  fill  every  nook  and  corner  with  a  concord  of  sweet  sounds. 

Of  the  Temple  little  can  be  said,  as  it  is  still  in  an  incomplete  condition,  although  two 
millions  of  money  and  forty  years  of  time  have  already  been  expended  upon  it.  It  is  con- 
structed of  an  exceptionally  fine  quality  of  white  granite,  which  is  brought  from  quarries 
some  80  miles  distant.  The  building  is  200  X  100  feet,  the  center  spire  being  200  feet  from 
the  ground.  The  architecture  belongs  to  no  particular  school,  but  is  of  a  character  within 
itself. 

The  Assembly  Hall  is  of  a  less  pretentious  character  than  either  of  the  other  buildings, 
and  resembles,  in  general  appearance,  many  religious  edifices  as  seen  in  eastern  cities. 

28 


THE  TEMPLE  AND  TABERNACLE. 


MOUNT  OF  THE  HOLY  CROSS. 

WILL.  L.  VISCHER. 

HERE  Nature's  God  hath  roughest  wrought;  where  spring  the  purest  fountains; 
Where  long  ago  the  Titans  fought  and  hurled  for  missiles,  mountains ; 
Where  everlasting  snows  abide,  and  tempest  clouds  are  driven 
Along  the  solid  granite  side  of  yawning  canons  riven 
Deep  in  the  Rocky's  grandest  pride  that  lifts  its  head  to  heaven. 

Amid  the  wilds,  where  awful  rise  the  giant  peaks,  that  fathom 
Night's  starry  depths  and  day's  blue  skies,  and  brood  above  the  chasm 
One  monarch  'mongst  the  mighty  hills  rears  high  his  summit  hoary, 
Like  some  grim  king  whose  legend  fills  a  page  of  olden  story, 
And  heart  o'erawes  and  soul  enthrills  before  his  regal  glory. 

The  holy  cross  of  Christian  faith,  above  the  royal  velvet 

In  beauty  shines,  an  emblem  wraith,  high  on  the  beetling  helmet; 

Its  white  arms  stretching  through  the  sheen  of  silvery  mist,  are  gleaming: 

A  talisman,  the  world  to  screen,  Hope's  symbol,  in  its  seeming; 

A  wonder  grand,  a  joy  serene,  upon  the  ages  beaming. 

30 


MOUNT  OF  THE   HOLY  CROSS. 


